Blu-ray has become the mainstream for storing high definition movies. To prevent Blu-ray content from being distributed illegally, the Blu-ray region code scheme was introduced. In this tutorial, we will show you how to solve Blu-ray region code issue in different ways.

Part 1: What are Blu-ray region codes?

The Blu-ray region codes are separated into three different zones. There are a few things about Blu-ray region codes you should know about before buying a Blu-ray player. One of them is that Blu-ray region codes mean that Blu-ray players sold in a specific region can only play Blu-ray discs that are made to be played in that region. There are in total 3 different regions, labeled A, B, and C.

What does region free mean? Sometimes, if not most of the time, you might see a disc with all the region codes (A, B, and C) on them. This indicates that the disc is region free, thus allowing you to play it on any Blu-ray player regardless of the region code on it. Different movie distributors have a different attitude toward region codes. Some major U.S. movie studios like Walt Disney Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, Warner Bros, and Sony Pictures Entertainment have chosen to release most of their titles region-free. So that’s why you will be seeing most of their titles with all the region codes on them.

And also a region free Blu-ray player device can play Blu-ray discs of all regions. In some regions, Blu-ray discs are sold at a lower price than other regions. And there are people who choose to buy Blu-ray discs from those regions to save money. If you buy most of your Blu-ray discs from regions that are different from the region you purchase your Blu-ray player from, then you might encounter playback issues of the discs due to the region codes on them. In situations like this, a region-free Blu-ray player would have all the problems solved. Check out several of the region-free Blu-ray players you can use to play region-locked Blu-ray discs.

Part 2: Best Features You Should Need for Region-free Blu-ray Player

Of course, some region free Blu-ray DVD player products have certain advantages for better performance. Since plenty of clients tend to understand the beneficial features from the best region free Blu-ray players, here I have collected a few items for your references.

Support Blu-rays from Zone A, Zone B, and Zone C, DVDs from any region (0-8)

Easy to cope with multiple Blu-ray region switching within One-button

Automatically alter the standard DVD region

Updatable firmware can be achieved via the internet without affecting regional coding

Next, we have picked up 3 best standalone region-free Blu-ray player machines for your considerations.

Part 3: 3 Best Region-free Blu-ray DVD Player Machines

1. Sony BDP-S1700 Region Free Blu-Ray Player

Sony BDP-S1700 Region Free Blu-Ray Player has basically all the features you would probably expect in a high-end Blu-ray player. Other than that it’s region-free for both Blu-rays and DVDs, which is what we need, it also supports 4k upscaling. Most of the old Blu-rays are 720p or 1080p, but 4K TV is getting more and more common. So it’s a much-appreciated feature for people who started collecting Blu-rays years ago. The DVDs can also be upscaled to the resolution of a Blu-ray movie with high quality. You can get this high-end region free Blu-ray DVD player from Sony on Amazon for $179.

Simple navigation with a user-friendly interface and quick loading speed

Access videos, photos and digital music with the frontal USB port

Cinema-quality sound with Dolby Digital TrueHD via HDMI Output

Operating less energy with a standard warranty

2. Samsung UBD-M8500 Region Free 4K Blu-ray Player

This Samsung region free 4K Blu-ray player is a new model for both Blu-rays and DVDs. It packs the 4K Ultra-HD feature even HEVC for 4K playback content It also has Wi-Fi built-in that would allow you to stream content to other devices around the household. You can also stream media data from Netflix, YouTube, and Pandora on it. With a DLNA-enabled device, you can easily mirror the movies on your TV to your device to enjoy seamlessly. It’s priced at $379 on Amazon and a lot of Xbox and PlayStation owners have been giving positive feedback for a long time.

Advanced detection for DVD disc regions and decrypt

Blu-ray regions can be modified through the 1-Button click

DLNA availability

Ripping CD content to audio tracks by USB Storage

Wireless connections come with wired Ethernet support

3. LG BP165 Region Free Blu-ray DVD Player 110-240 volts Multi-region

The LG BP165 Region Free Blu-ray DVD Player is the cheapest one so far on our list of best region free Blu-ray players. As a very well-rounded region free Blu-ray DVD player, you can get it for $129 from Amazon. This best region free Blu-ray player can access Blu-rays from all regions. Other than that, it can also play music, photos, and videos including MPEG-1/MPEG2 PS/TS, SMPTE VC1 (VC-9), MKV, AVC Rec, AVCHD, M4V, WMV, 3GP, MP4, MOV, FLV, VOB, DAT.

Unlock DVD regions automatically

Super-fast manual changing the Blu-ray zones from default region A

Adaptive 110-240 Volts support

Offer internet streaming apps such as Netflix, YouTube, etc

Inbuilt with PAL/NTSC transmission

Lifetime guarantee of upgradeable firmware online

Part 4: Free-cost Region-free Blu-ray Player Software

While the region free Blu-ray player devices could be expensive, you can also access the 4K Blu-ray content regardless of regions on your computer via the software means. At this stage, I would like to introduce you to a powerful free Blu-ray player application to play all region-locked Blu-ray movies.

Serving as an outstanding multimedia player program, Leawo Blu-ray Player has shown its universal solutions to Blu-rays of all kinds. Specialized in decoding Blu-ray formats, it can decrypt region restrictions and all types of Blu-ray protections such as BD+, AACS. Moreover, the 4K Blu-ray delivery can come with advanced audio technologies like Dolby, DTS, AAC, TrueHD, DTS-HD. Besides, the superior display will restore the original image and audio quality with zero loss. Users are guaranteed with extraordinary cinema-like visual effects while all the playback control is back to your hands. And this region free 4K Blu-ray player is equipped with a couple of handy toolkits, including a power manager, the remote support, multilingual environment, and designable themes and backgrounds. What’s more, the premium version is merged with a convenient converter to rip Blu-ray into MKV files losslessly.

Part 5: Best Tool to Remove Region Code on Blu-ray File

If you have no plan on updating your current Blu-ray player to a region free Blu-ray player and have some Blu-ray discs that have different region codes than your player, you might want to consider making a region free copy of them. That way you can play the disc on any Blu-ray player you have and the region codes on them won’t bother you.

When you decide to give it a shot, there’s a high-quality piece of Blu-ray copy software you can use called Leawo Blu-ray Copy. It has all the features you need for making a region free Blu-ray disc. It can copy a Blu-ray disc directly to another disc with no quality loss and remove the region code during the copying process. What you get from it is a copy that’s exactly the same as the original disc only without the region code on it. Then the region-free disc can be played on Blu-ray players of all regions. If you are copying a BD50 disc but the blank disc you use is BD25, the program can also compress BD50 to BD25 for you. Maybe you intend to try out now, download and install the program on your computer and follow the instructions below.

Step 2. Just click the Add Blu-ray/DVD button from the upper-left and choose Add from CD-ROM from the following menu. Then you will see the option for loading your disc to the program.

Step 3. After the disc is properly loaded to the program, you will have 3 options for deciding what content in the disc to copy. On the left side of the current interface, you will see several different elements. You will also need to select a disc format for the copy by clicking the button below the 3 copy mode buttons.

Step 4. Click the Copy button from the upper-right of the program and the program will display a sidebar on the right side. Check out the three options on the top: Folder, ISO file, and a drop-down box. Set the output directory for them in the box under the “Save to”. And you can start the copying process by hitting the Copy button on the sidebar.